A man who said he went to Bequia specifically to steal from tourists has been jailed for five years and three months for burglarising a hotel and stealing from two of its guests.
On Wednesday, at the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court, Senior Magistrate Tammika Mc Kenzie sentenced the man, Carlos Penniston aka Tune, 41, of Chateaubelair, to five years, three weeks and nine months in prison for burglary.
She sentenced him to an additional six months in prison for damaging a window at the hotel.
Penniston pleaded guilty, on Monday, to charges that on Feb. 8, at Belmont, Bequia, without lawful excuse, he damaged an aluminium sash window, valued at EC$900, the property of Plantation Hotel.
He was further charged that he burglarised the same hotel and stole items valued at US$285 and US$1,600 in cash, the property of Jennifer Lester, of Alabama, United States.
The facts of the case are that US couple Jennifer and David Lester arrived in Bequia on vacation on Feb. 7, staying in room No. 25 at Plantation Hotel.
The following day, they left at 6:45 p.m. to attend a function.
The couple returned about 10:10 p.m. and found that their hotel room had been burglarised and an aluminium sash window next to the entrance door on the eastern side of the building was broken.
The couple noticed that some of their personal belongings, including US cash, were missing.
They reported the matter to the police who visited the scene.
The police reviewed the CCTV footage of the compound and it showed a male, who the police recognised as Penniston, using a stone to smash the window, through which he then entered the room.
The footage showed Penniston leaving the room sometime later carrying a brown bag.
The police continued their investigation and on Feb. 9, at 6:40 a.m., while patrolling, they saw Penniston and apprehended him.
He was informed of the report of burglary and damage to property.
A search was conducted of his person, and he was found to be carrying a small transparent bag containing US$220 made up of 20-dollar notes, a single sea shell earring and a single hasp earring.
Police took Penniston back to the hotel and he showed them how he had committed the crime and where he had slept after.
He took police to a bushy area and showed them a brown bead bag, which contained one ChapStick and sunscreen.
Penniston gave police a statement under caution, saying that he went to Bequia on the 4 p.m. ferry the previous day.
He said that he went to the hotel and saw two white people in the room who seemed as if they were preparing to leave.
Penniston said he hid behind some flowers and the couple passed him straight.
He subsequently burglarised the room, stealing cash and several other items.
“I moved out with everything and opened the door …” Penniston said, adding that he later threw away the bag after leaving the scene.
He told police that he then went to relax so that he could leave on the first ferry to Kingstown the following morning but was arrested before he could do so.
Penniston accepted the facts but told the court that he had only taken US$220 from the room and a single earring.
He, however, said that if a pair was there, he would have taken it and further mentioned to the court some of the items he had stolen.
He said that he had been working with someone in the mountains since July but they had not paid him and that was unfair.
Penniston told the court that he went to Bequia to get money “to buy things to go back up in the mountain”.
Penniston, who has a history of burglary and had been shot by police while he was burglarising a building, told the court that he would not like to go back to jail.
He, however, said that he had decided that when he goes back to prison, he would change his life and become a Christian and would not want to go around “certain kind of people”.
The senior magistrate asked him how he thought the burglary victims felt, in light of his claim that it was unfair that he had not been paid since July.
Penniston told the court that the couple would “not feel safe and comfortable”.
Mc Kenzie said it would not have been a good thing if the couple’s home were burglarised but it was a lot worse because they had gone to Bequia on vacation.
“In the same way, you don’t want people to unfair you, why do you think you should be unfair to someone else?” she asked Penniston.
“You think they would be happy and sleep comfortably knowing somebody probably came in here and touched all their things?”
Meanwhile, Jennifer Lester said it was unsettling to know that someone, especially a man, had been in their room touching their items.
She said that a pair of earrings was a gift from her father who is dead.
Lester told the court that the burglary had made her fearful.
She told the court that Penniston should go to jail for what he had done, adding that she did not think that he could afford to repay her for the items she had lost.
Penniston told the court that he was sorry about what he did.
The prosecutor, acting Sergeant of Police Shamrack Pierre had asked the court to adjourn the sentencing to Wednesday, saying that he wanted to take instruction from the Director of Public Prosecution.
Pierre said that in light of Penniston’s criminal record, he should be sentenced by the High Court, which could sentence him to up to 14 years imprisonment, twice as much as a magistrate.
At the sentencing on Wednesday, the court also ordered that the items that had been recovered be returned to the complainants.
I am so sad to read this and feel for the couple it happened to. I would very much like to know if this is the same man that stole my handbag from me on the evening of 20th January, last month. I was walking behind my husband on the boardwalk from the Fig Tree towards The Planation, when a man lunged at me for my small handbag, which was across my body. He spun me around so fast I was slammed head first into a brick wall and now have a serious laceration, 19 stitches, on my forehead. It was a nightmare for me that I will never be able to forget. My AirTag was in my bag and is still pinging its location behind The Plantation hotel, it would be amazing if it could be found and tested for his finger prints.
I am so sad to hear this, but I do wonder if this is the same man that stole my handbag on the evening of 20th January, just a few weeks ago. I was walking with my husband in front of me on the boardwalk from the Fig Tree to The Plantation Hotel, when a man lunged for my small navy handbag, which was across my body. He yanked it so hard and ran, which spun me so fast headfirst into a brick wall leaving me with a huge laceration, 19 stitches, on my forehead. Something I will see for the rest of my life. We will need to contact the police and see if they can find my bag and get finger prints checked. How sad this all is for Bequia.
I’m so sad for the people this man has stolen from. But what I would really like to know is if he can been seen on any CCTV on Bequia on 20th Jan, just a few weeks before this crime, as that is the evening i was walking from the Fig Tree to the Plantation, with my husband, when a man lunged at me with such force into a brick wall, that I now have a very long laceration, 19 stitches, in my forehead. I live with this every day for the rest of my life. All for the small handbag, that has no money, cards or phone in it. Perhaps he could be questioned for this, or the police could find my bag, with the AirTag still signalling in it, and check it for finger prints. Saddest day of my life.